Tablets

Microsoft has decided to cut the price of its flagship Surface tablet, leading to speculation that the company is worried about low sales or is possibly clearing stock in anticipation of a new line of tablets. The devices will now cost $350 for the 32GB model or $450 for the 64GB version. With a Touch Cover these prices increase by $100 to $450 for the 32GB model and $550 for the 64GB model.

The Microsoft Surface Tablet with Smart Cover

This represents a significant undercut on other premium tablets on the market. In fact, the Microsoft Surface retails at $250 less than the 32GB iPad and $80 less than the iPad Mini. They don't just tackle Apple with this price cut though. The Microsoft Surface also undercuts the Nexus 10 by $150 at retail. With the cuts, Microsoft will be competing directly with smaller and lower cost alternatives like the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire.

While sales numbers regarding the Microsoft Surface remain scarce, it is believed that the tablet isn't performing as strong as Microsoft had hoped or expected. The cut in prices could in response to that or it could also be something else altogether. Some are speculating that Microsoft is preparing to refresh their line of tablets. Just last week at their Worldwide Partner Conference Microsoft teased the idea of launching new versions of their Surface and Surface Pro tablets. It is believed that the surface would be in line to receive an upgraded Haswell Chip. The Surface Pro would possibly be outfitted with a Snapdragon 800 processor.

Whatever Microsoft decides to do, the damage appears to have been done when it comes to their Surface experiment. The price cut comes across to me as white flag. The interesting part will be to see what Microsoft does next. It isn't enough to make a comparable tablet to the iPad, they need to blow it out of the water. If Microsoft is able to release a tablet that does that, maybe then we'll see someone finally take a chunk out of Apple as of yet impenetrable armour.

A poster in the Windows Phone Central forums uploaded images of his Surface Tablet, which still works after being run over by a car

It's doubtful whether any owner of a new Microsoft Surface Tablet would perform the following test on purpose, but a poster in the Windows Phone Central forums has unwittingly discovered what happens when you run over the device with a car.

You know how sometimes, before getting in your car, you'll forget a cup of coffee on the roof of the car, only to have it whip off into the road a block or two away? Well, this unfortunate man did more or less the same thing, but with a his tablet.

Aside from some superficial dents and scratches, the tablet is still intact

Noticing some trash cans that needed to be taken in outside his house, he set the Surface Tablet on the car roof and, forgetting all about it, drove off to work. Naturally, as soon as he realized what he'd doe, he turned right around and drove back the direction he came from, to find his Surface Tablet lying in the middle of the road:

"[I] watched the last group of traffic drove by. Each car passed by with the tires on each side of the Surface until the very last car. The tire of the car ran completely over the Surface and next thing I saw was my brand new $700 tablet and touch cover flying through the air in separate directions!"

Long story short, the poor guy was delighted when he opened up the tablet and found that, not only was the screen completely intact but that, hitting the power button, everything worked as it should.

"The Surface feels completely sturdy, exactly like how I got it. Everything works in it, even the touch cover (which got a slight tear in it) works completely fine! Microsoft has made such an incredible product, I am completely speechless how this could happen!," he wrote.

The tablet has a few scratches dents and dings, but otherwise survived no worse for wear. Needless to say, the poster is pretty happy about his choice of tablets, writing: "This product is insane! I would love to see what an iPad looks like after getting run over by a car going 60 mph!"

"There is not a single scratch nor crack in the screen!" wrote the relieved tablet owner

While waiting for Apple to unveil the iPad mini on October 23rd, we’re all over leaked photos and specs for the new device. We’ve seen plenty of mock-ups until now, but Sonny Dickson, a researcher at 9to5Mac posted some photos on his Twitter feed that are rumored to be actual pics of the tiny Apple tablet.

Many of the pictures show the iPad mini next to the new iPad. There's a dramatic size difference between the two. The mini looks to be 7.85 inches with an anodized aluminum case. There’s a rear-facing camera, two rear speakers and a nano-SIM card slot for wireless internet access. It will likely be equipped with the Lightning dock connector, too.

Actual pic of the iPad mini on top of the new iPad?

The Wall Street journal reports that Apple is so sure that the iPad mini will be a huge seller that they and their suppliers are busy making 10 million of them.

Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire are both priced at $199. TechCrunch is reporting that the iPad mini will come in at around $300.

Apple will make the official iPad Mini announcement on October 23rd. the iPad Mini preorder date for October 26th and we can find in stores on November 2nd.

Now that we know what Microsoft’s Surface tablet looks like, it’s a good time to compare specs for the Surface to two of the other most popular tablets on the market: Apple’s new iPad and Kindle Fire HD.

The Surface RT faces some stiff competition. Regardless of the type of device, you have to decide what’s most important and determine what’s the best investment for you. Diehard Apple loyalists, we’re not talking about you.

Thanks to the folks at Mashable for putting together this comprehensive summary.

A report in Fortune magazine says it’s likely that Apple will show the world its iPad Mini in a launch event on October 17th. An Apple investor claims to have heard about Apple’s plans from multiple sources and predicts that invitations to the event will go out on October 10th, we’ll have a first look at the iPad Mini on October 17th , and we could see it on the market as soon as November 2nd.

Leaked photos of the little tablet have been circulating for quite a while showing a 7.85-inch device with a rear-facing camera. The casing looks to be aluminum-backed with a front display that is similar to the current iPad’s. It will probably have a black or white bezel surrounding the screen and a home button at the bottom. There is no doubt that tablet will be set up with the new Lightning connector.

Thankfully, the iPad Mini is rumored to be priced in the range of other major tablets like Nook, Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire. Apple offering a tablet for around $200 will probably make everyone except Barnes and Noble, Google and Amazon very happy.

Since neither the development of a smaller version of the iPad nor any dates for the launch of the alleged device have ever been acknowledged by Apple, all this information could be completely wrong. Since we’re hearing it everywhere, we’ll just let Apple be the one to prove us right.

HTC refuses to offer cheaper handsets just to boost sales. Despite struggling to match the sales numbers of its competitors, the company is sticking to its strategy of producing only medium- to high-end handsets.

HTC CEO Peter Chou defended the company’s strategy in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “We don’t want to destroy our brand image. We insist on using better materials to make better products that offer premium experience. Many consumers like that.”

Chou’s comments come at a time when many industry watchers are beginning to question HTC’s strategy. Motorola and Samsung are capturing the low-end handset market in the Chinese market, but Chao insists that HTC will not manufacture “cheap, cheap phones” to boost its market share.

HTC will increase its marketing efforts and expand its distribution network into emerging markets. Chou expects that 2012 Chinese shipments will reach three times last year’s total. Shipments to India and other emerging markets are steadily growing. Chou is adamant, “We think our strategy is successful.”

Microsoft’s ARM-friendly Windows RT operating system launches this fall, but Microsoft is going to make it very difficult for tablet makers to use it and still compete with Apple’s iPad 3 pricing. Microsoft will reportedly charge tablet makers $85 to license each device that uses its Windows RT.

VR Zone reported that Microsoft’s pricing was disclosed to them by a number of vendors during the Computex Taipei trade show. All claimed the price would be anywhere between $80 and $95. With that amount added to the cost of tablet manufacturing, ARM-powered Windows RT tablets could cost between $549 and $799. Premium products could be priced between $799 and $899.

A licensing agreement between Amazon and MGM will add hundreds of classic movies and TV shows to the Amazon Prime Instant Video catalog. Amazon Prime is available for $79 per year and offers unlimited video streaming of more than 18,000 movies and TV episodes, free book downloads for Kindle tablet owners and free two-day shipping for all Amazon orders.

As Brad Beale, director of digital video content acquisition for Amazon said in the company’s press release. “Our customers tell us they love having tons of movies and TV shows to choose from, which is why we are focused on adding even more titles to our already extensive Prime Instant Video library. MGM offers one of the most distinguished catalogs in all of Hollywood, and this deal will bring Prime Instant Video customers hundreds of new titles to enjoy on their Kindle Fire or any wireless device compatible with Amazon Instant Video. Customers can enjoy favorites like The Silence of the Lambs, Dances with Wolves, Rain Man and The Terminator, as well as fan-favorite TV series like Stargate.”

Google helpfully added badges to its Chrome Web Store so you could tell if an app offers offline functionality, and now Google has made the search even easier with an offline section in the Chrome Web Store.

We are hoping to see mobile apps for both cell phone and tablets from Chrome web store

Go to the "Collections" part of the store, and find the "Offline Apps" section. Lots of the titles will be familiar - Angry Birds, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Offline Google Mail. Those will be alongside selections like Nitro for task management, NYTimes for news and Space Invaders for those needing a nostalgia rush.

Developers aren’t being left out of the improvements. Google announced the availability of the Chrome Web Store in Turkey, Ukraine, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. All developers can use new analytics tools to view their titles’ performance trends over the past 90 days. This one isn’t surprising. Google does know data.

Grace Lei, HTC’s general counsel, said the company wants ownership of S3′s patents, in part, as a response to the 2011 U.S. International Trade Commission finding that Apple was in violation of various S3 patents (although this ruling was later overturned.) As Lei put it at the annual HTC shareholder’s meeting, “We think S3′s patent portfolio is valid and strong, and we have decided to complete the purchase of S3 after cautious assessment.” Lei also noted that S3 owns about 270 patents, including those licensed to Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.

HTC has been locked in a battle with Apple over its alleged infringement of Apple patents in its Android handsets. Apple had been able get U.S. Customs to delay shipments of the HTC One X smartphone to U.S. carriers, in effect delaying that device’s launch by two weeks.

U.S. Customs cleared the devices for shipment at the end of May. HTC is insisting that its technology does not infringe upon Apple’s patents.